Speaking to The Financial Express, Mr Ballabh said that all automatic teller machines (ATMs) of the bank all over the country would be made online within three months. He also announced that the bank would launch its SBI card in Bihar soon.

"It is rare that both the chairman and the managing director are together at one place. We have come to Patna together because we are concerned about Bihar. We want that Bihar should join the mainstream in the race for industrialisation and economic development," Mr Janaki Ballabh said in his address to the members of the Bihar Industries Association (BIA).

Bihar now has a credit-deposit ratio (C-D) of about 25 per cent, the lowest in the country. With the creation of Jharkhand, the C-D ratio of Bihar is expected to dip further. SBI has a total of 555 branches in Bihar and 374 branches in Jharkhand. Only about 153 branches of the total 929 are fully computerised.

In his address, BIA president AS Verma highlighted the many ills plaguing the banking sector in Bihar and urged the SBI to take the lead role in solving the issues. Mr Verma stressed that banks should take a more pragmatic approach towards the granting of working capital. He also suggested that the recommendations of the Nayak Committee and the SL Kapoor Committee should be implemented and followed in both the letter and the spirit to bring in more transparency and accountability. He also suggested the setting up of a single window system and opposed the imposition of a blanket ban on the sanction of loans to any industry, particularly steel, due to the high exposure of the bank in that sector. "It is virtually impossible to meet the senior officers of the bank to discuss one's problem and even we get a chance, the papers are just taken for examination but no actions are taken or intimated," Mr Verma pointed out.

The BIA also reminded the bank to implement the finance minister's directives to set up a venture capital fund for the state.

The association urged the bank to formulate special norms for Bihar, which is economically very backward, and lower interest rates and margins.

The former BIA president and the president of the SBI's local board, Mr KP Jhunjhunwala, suggested that owing to the large-scale complaint from SSI sectors, areas such as non-availability of information, application forms, loan processing beyond RBI's stipulated time schedule, insistence on furnishing of collateral contrary to the RBI guidelines, inordinate delays in processing of rehabilitation proposals should get the attention of the bank. Mr Kamesan said: "I should have come to Patna six months ago. However, we will ensure that in the future your grievances will be addressed properly. "